Consider the following: you just sent your thesis manuscript to the evaluation committee. You still have three months to go before your scholarship/appointment ends and you once again start a discussion with your supervisor about you wish to continue in science. He/she enthusiastically responds: ’The best thing to do now is to write a Rubicon grant proposal, and maybe at the same time set up for a VENI grant proposal. You’ve got 3 months to come up with a great research plan and write it down. The University provides grant writing classes, so that would work well: you would be ready just before your Ph.D. defense, great, go for it !’

You go back to your desk, visit the NWO websites detailing on the grants, start reading the requirements…..and then reality kicks in…..

If you want to continue in science after your Ph.D. you will likely compete sooner or later in calls for personal grants and program grants. The first-stage personal grants provide you with an opportunity to do research in another country in another research team supervised by leaders in the field. To be ready to be truly competitive in these calls, you should have a strong CV and a fantastic plan to work on, and should have initiated contacts with the professor you would like to work with. All these requirements cannot be met if you start working on them only after handing in your thesis manuscript.

Today’s lecture will deal with the career ladder in academia, what grants are about and what grant agencies are and what they want, what a strong CV for your personal grant entails, and when to start with what – among others. There will be ample time for you to ask those questions you always wanted to ask but just didn’t get to until now.